


into the breach

by TheSpaceCoyote



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst and Feels, Canon-Typical Violence, Caretaking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Feelings Realization, Hurt/Comfort, Injured Kylo Ren, M/M, Major Character Injury, Missions Gone Wrong, More tags to be added, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Protective Armitage Hux, Rescue, Stranded
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-09-28 00:01:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20416532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSpaceCoyote/pseuds/TheSpaceCoyote
Summary: When Kylo Ren sustains a head injury while fleeing a diplomatic mission gone horribly wrong, Hux might find out a lot more about his volatile co-commander than he bargained for.Including, perhaps, what exactly lies beneath that ever-present mask.





	into the breach

**Author's Note:**

> A few weeks back I had the sudden desire to write something with a helmet reveal. It's taken awhile, but I finally have the first chapter ready. Hope you guys like!

The delicate art of diplomacy was not exactly Kylo Ren’s strong suit. 

Hux knew this. That was the whole reason he’d agreed to accompany the broody knight to the negotiations on Oliu in the first place. Hux would otherwise never set foot on such a planet. He knew from the debriefing that it was filled with nothing but dense forests, which were in turn filled with all sorts of dangerous, disgusting fauna. Not one of the more tolerable places in the galaxy, to be sure. Hux would far prefer to remain aboard the ship, his haven of civilization, and stay away from the matter altogether. 

But at this point, it couldn’t be helped. The relationship between Oliu’s reigning, loosely federated militia and the Order was already tenuous, the negotiations in question only brokered after a long attrition and ultimately concessions on both sides. While nothing all that dire was at stake, securing allies on resource-rich planets could only ever serve the Order well as it grew in power and scope. And considering Ren was so far from level-headed that he was hacking apart consoles and throwing tantrums all the way out in the mire of Wild Space, he needed someone to keep him in check and guide the talks with a sensible hand. 

Why that someone had to be _himself_, Hux didn't know. Apparently, he’d also been promoted to the distinguished, invaluable position of "Official Nursemaid" when he’d made general. 

That, in his opinion, just highlighted the flaw in this entire matter. Why bring along someone like Ren at all, now that Hux had agreed to spearhead the operation? Sure, his presence could reliably add a healthy dose of muscle and menace to any situation, but so could a sleek, well-armed contingent of troopers. Or a rancor kept on a tight leash. Both would be less distracting and more likely to obey his orders than the persistently intractable Ren would. Why the need to involve a man that might derail negotiations before they even begin? 

But Supreme Leader Snoke had insisted, forcing Hux to bite his tongue on his doubts. As usual, it didn’t matter whether Hux believed other means would more than suffice if they needed to keep the leaders of Oliu in line. It didn’t matter that he knew Ren was an unpredictable variable, and that tossing him into delicate situations came across about as wise as strapping a hyperdrive onto a rogue comet and expecting it to only wreck the enemy’s fleet. It didn’t matter that Hux always felt the natural inclination to argue against Ren’s continued involvement in any of the Order’s affairs that didn’t require a human battering ram. Snoke might occasionally hear Hux’s input and take it into consideration, but ultimately he had final say. And he’d said, as he often did, that Ren’s participation was _ crucial_. 

So Hux had agreed to the arrangement, keeping his mind scrubbed of any dissent the Supreme Leader might find suspect. The preparation for his and Ren’s departure had begun immediately, and before long they’d both found themselves in the company of a pack of surprisingly well-regimented insurgents, closed off in a makeshift meeting room within their primary headquarters. 

And to Hux’s surprise, things were progressing more or less according to plan. So far Ren had mostly behaved himself, exhibiting none of his usual misbehavior. On the contrary, he’d hardly moved an inch from where he stood behind Hux, watching over the proceedings from within his mask. Occasionally Hux heard him breathing or mumbling to himself through the vocoder, but other than that he remained quiet. Ren was an intrinsically dominant and invasive person, but for now he seemed content to allow Hux to take the lead debating the militants into a corner so they might accept the majority of the Order’s terms. Hux could scarcely believe that he’d caught Ren in such an obedient mood. What luck.

Everything was going better than he expected. Shockingly so.

Which naturally meant it was just about time for it to all go to hell. 

“What is the meaning of this?” Hux snapped as a fresh crop of armed guards flooded into the room, tearing away the banners concealing the secret doors in the walls. Those that had been standing at the other end of the table now pointed their blasters at his skull. “Are you mad? The Supreme Leader will have your head for this betrayal!”

The man sitting across from Hux snickered. He considered himself the self-styled chief of the entire militia, and as such dressed in dusty fatigues with a red and black cloak draped about his shoulders in a misguided attempt to make him look more imperious. Hux hadn’t pegged him as the brightest star in the galaxy to begin with, but this turn of events really showed just how foolish he was. No more than a meat-headed soldier gussied up in stolen finery. 

“Will he? Or will Snoke be more willing to negotiate better terms once he realizes I’ve captured his top general?” The chief’s eyes shifted to look behind Hux, where his guards now surrounded Ren on all sides. “And his pet apprentice, to boot.”

Hux sensed Ren bristle, the dormant aura around him starting to stir and writhe. He recognized the sensation, especially as it sent a worrisome chill running up his spine. Hux hadn’t witnessed Ren use his powers all that often, but whenever he did it felt like this—like static cling building right before a lightning strike. 

“Ren—” Hux whispered out of the corner of his mouth, but it was too late. 

The tense quiet of the room erupted into a cacophony of chaos. With a violent stroke of his hand Ren knocked the guards off their feet before they could pull the trigger, sending them flying into the walls with a resounding _ thud_. Those who had their weapons pointed at Hux snapped their aim away from him to fire at Ren, allowing Hux to drop out of his chair and take shelter beneath the meeting table. Blaster bolts shrieked through the air above him, smashing into sparks against the wall. The remaining banners curled and burned, fluttering in scraps to the floor. The chief rose to his feet with his own weapon withdrawn, firing directly at Ren’s helmet. The shot zipped through the air, but Ren flexed his hand and caught it with ease, holding the bolt frozen in crackling stasis for a moment before flinging it back into the chief’s chest. Any further orders or expletives died in his throat, the impact knocking his body back down into his chair.

Hux stayed where he was, hands protecting the back of his skull, until the commotion died down. But he barely had a moment to peek up above the table and survey the extent of the slaughter before a rough hand grabbed his shoulder and tried to haul him up. 

“Reinforcements will be here in a moment,” Ren intoned, as if he could already see them coming, “we have to go.” 

Hux scowled, wrenching his shoulder out of Ren’s grasp and snapping his head around to glare at him. He kept his eyes fixed stubbornly on the man’s mask as he grabbed the edge of the table and pushed himself to his feet without any help. He did sway a bit, but hoped Ren wouldn’t notice. 

Having proved his point, Hux glanced about the room to ensure there weren’t any survivors of Ren’s onslaught. All present looked dead enough, throats twisted and holes burning in their chest, but Hux could hear shouts and banging footsteps from beyond the walls of the room, drawing closer. Ren was right. More were coming. 

“What’s your plan, Re—” Hux started, only for the screech of strained machinery to cut him off. He turned to find Ren prying the automatic door open with a twist of his fingers, then striding through. He didn’t look back. 

“Ren!” Hux snapped, racing through the door as Ren released it and let it slam closed, nearly catching the tail of the general’s greatcoat. Hux’s mouth fell open as he pulled his coat defensively about his body, insult bristling on the back of his neck. But before he could properly reprimand Ren for almost damaging his uniform, the bastard turned heel and took off running down the hall. Hux blinked, stunned. 

“You insolent—wait for me!” Hux shouted as he started after him, the _clang_ of their boots on the metal floor echoing in tandem.

Despite his bulk and heavy clothes, Ren was quick. He stole through the hallways like a bolt of black lightning, ragged ends of his cowl trailing behind him. Hux pumped his legs, struggling to keep up with the other man’s massive stride and evidently bottomless endurance. He panted, breath burning in his throat, collar tight against his throbbing jugular. It had been a long, long time since Hux had to actually run for his life and although he was flagging, he knew he had to keep pace. Or at the very least keep Ren within his sights. Hux doubted his nefarious companion would come back for him if he wound up lost within the base. No doubt, Ren would opt to leave Hux to the wolves in order to increase the odds of his own escape. 

“Slow down! Don’t you dare leave me behind!” Hux shouted, his usual composure frazzled to a crisp. He was used to climatic fleet combat deep in the vacuum of space, not fleeing on foot from enraged insurgents who thought they could make an easy ransom out of the two of them. 

Ren didn’t answer Hux, nor slow down his gait as he rounded a sharp corner. Hux huffed and shook his head as he jogged around it after him, preparing another indignant shout only to nearly run smack dab into the man’s broad back. The soles of Hux’s boots screeched to a halt against the sleek floor, saving him from toppling into Ren and bowling them both over. 

“Why did you stop?” Hux gasped, side stinging from his brief sprint. “We have to keep running, they’re gaining on—”

“Stand back,” Ren snapped, throwing out his hand behind him. 

Hux choked at the gruff command, eyebrows raising in an affronted peak. The absolute _ nerve _ of this man. Hux took back every kind thought he’d had about Ren’s behavior today—he was the same as he’d ever been, but Hux wasn’t about to just lie back and take it. He absolutely refused to be spoken to in such a rude fashion. Yes, this was an emergency, but that didn’t mean Ren could just throw all decency and professionalism out the window. Hux stalked up to him, finger raised and punitive. 

“You cannot order me around like a _ civilian_, Ren, may I remind you—”

The sharp crackle and sudden glow of a lightsaber igniting forced Hux to take a step back. The corridor lit up with a vibrant red, illuminating the sealed door ahead of Ren that Hux hadn’t noticed until this very moment. 

The unexpected obstacle didn’t last long. Ignoring the security display embedded in the wall, Ren hefted his saber and struck at the door without restraint, sending a shower of sparks skittering across the floor. Hux took another step back, a bit startled by this up close display of Ren’s brutish strength, only to jerk his head over his shoulder at the sound of footsteps and shouts of armed guards growing rapidly closer. 

“Ren—” Hux started, but the groan of creaking durasteel cut him off. He turned to find most of the door lying in twisted pieces upon the floor, their edges glowing molten from the heat of Ren’s saber. Hux stared at the warped, empty doorway for a moment as Ren strode through, again not planning to wait for him. Hux followed close behind, kicking out a scrap of metal still clinging to the frame just to express his irritation at the whole situation. Ren’s detached attitude wasn’t exactly helping Hux’s already sour mood. 

The hallway opened out into a small, three-walled hangar. Sunlight filtered in from the outside, forcing Hux to bring a hand above his eyes so he could properly see. He blinked and squinted. There wasn’t much inside the hangar apart from a couple transports and fighters hanging suspended from the ceiling, already skeletal and stripped of their parts. 

“Over here.” Ren’s voice drew Hux’s attention to a couple of rickety-looking speeders just ahead of them, all racked together in a line. Hux followed, doubt building. What was Ren’s plan? Hardly any of these vehicles looked safe, or even operable. 

A series of shouts echoed off the walls of the hangar as the technicians milling about noticed Ren and Hux, but they barely had time to get their hands on their blasters before Ren threw his free hand out, lifting one speeder out of the rack and sending it sailing through the air. It smashed into the startled technicians, bowling them over and pinning their bodies against the floor. Debris scattered outwards from the impact, filling the air with the sound of screeching metal on metal. Ren continued in this same vein, hurling speeder after speeder at their foes until they all lay dead and only one of the vehicles remained standing. He stomped up to it, before whirling around to face Hux for the first time since they began their escape.

“Get on. Now.”

It took a moment for Hux to process what Ren was asking, or rather commanding. Once he did he balked at the speeder in question, looking over it with a critical, disgusted eye. Rust pooled around the bolts and soldered seams holding it together, and the old insignias and serial numbers painted on its sides had been chipped away in favor of the militia’s sloppily daubed colors. Most likely it’d been dragged from a scrap heap or crash site and forced to limp on in the service of these miscreants. A far cry from well-crafted, armored vehicles that the Order usually deployed into combat, that Hux had personally inspected on countless occasions. 

“General,” Ren growled, slamming his fist against the speeder’s hull to get Hux’s attention. “This is not the time or place for hesitation.” As if to hammer his point home, shouts echoed from the wrecked door behind them, peppered with the shrill keens of blasters charging.

“Ren.” Hux bristled, determined to hold onto his remaining dignity no matter the imminent danger. “I am _ not_, not for the life of me, getting on that damn thing—”

“Would you rather die? Or be captured and tortured by these lowlives?” Ren snapped, any decorum remaining in their relationship as co-commanders dashed to pieces as he reached forward and seized Hux by the wrist. Before the general could pull away Ren practically threw him towards the speeder then shoved him up atop it. Hux’s fingers dug into the seat, trying to situate himself properly, but these vehicles weren’t designed with comfort in mind. He winced. 

“Die at the hands of a pack of crazed extremists, or be consumed in a fiery explosion atop this bucket of bolts with _you_,” Hux growled under his breath, not caring if Ren heard him, “stars, I can’t decide which I’d prefer.”

Hux jolted in place at the sound of a blaster shot, ducking forward. After a moment of cowering against the seat, he turned his head over his shoulder to see that Ren had his saber twirling in front of him, countering every bolt fired in his direction with surprising elegance. Some exploded on impact, while others zipped back towards their origins, making short work of the guards who’d fired them. The hallway bottlenecked all of the oncoming reinforcements in one spot, making them fairly easy targets for Ren to pick off even without directly using his saber. Which was slightly impressive, sure, but as the seconds wore on irritation flared up inside of Hux’s at Ren’s theatrics. He wanted _ out _ of here, before the uncomfortable seat of the speeder permanently bruised his tailbone. 

“Ren, stop showing off and pilot this thing already!” Hux shouted, leaning forward to press insistently on the button for the speeder’s electric horn. Ren made no indication that he had heard the general or the sudden honking, but after a moment changed his tactics and flung his free hand out to the right. A couple meters away, one of the downed speeders creaked and wobbled as it rose into the air, debris sloughing onto the floor with a clatter. Ren clenched his hand into a fist and thrust it out in front of him, sending the speeder crashing through the door frame and jamming it shut. Hux watched, a little more awed than he’d ever admit, as Ren stowed the saber in his belt with a rough flourish before striding back to where Hux still sat, waiting. 

“Let’s go.”

The entire speeder creaked as Ren hauled himself up atop it, straddling the seat in front of Hux. He settled into place, posterior pushing back between the general’s legs as he turned the engine over. 

“It’d be in your best interest to hold on,” Ren advised over the whirr of machinery and sizzle of the thrusters as the speeder kicked into life. It rose up into the air, stuttering and faltering until Ren banged on the dashboard and flipped a few switches to get it to stop. 

Hux’s heart clenched as he swayed in his seat, not used to the feeling of weightlessness without the proper stability of a shuttle or another, _ safer _ kind of craft. Swallowing down just a bit of his pride he grabbed for purchase against the loose folds of robes rucked around Ren’s waist, trying to minimize close contact as much as possible. He wasn’t about to cling to Ren like a swooning damsel in distress, even if he was nobly spiriting Hux away from danger. Nobly as a degenerate like Ren could possibly be, in any case. 

With a loud, quavery roar the speeder shot out of the hangar, plunging towards the surrounding forest. Hux dug his fingers into Ren’s robes, expecting them to crash immediately, but they swerved around the first tree, then another, weaving a path through the thicket as if Ren could already see the safest, clearest path in his mind’s eye. The wind whipped at Hux, pulling his hair out of place and slapping falling leaves against his face. It was so strong that it nearly pulled his greatcoat off his shoulders, making the ends flap like a black comet’s tail behind them as they sped off through the forest. 

Just when Hux finally thought they were safe, the sudden keen of blaster fire made him jump and dig his fingers into Ren’s side. Two bright green bolts just barely missed them, one shattering the bark of a tree while the other exploded into a bushel of leaves above their heads. Hux whipped around, eyes widening as he spotted several enemy speeders weaving through the woods behind them. He saw one of them raise an arm, and ducked forward. Hux swore he felt the heat of the blaster bolt graze his face before it incinerated a bough of leaves beside him. 

“I thought you disabled them all!” Hux shouted at Ren above the throb of wind in his ears. “Can’t you make this thing going any faster?” He felt like they were traveling at breakneck speed, yet their enemies were still following close behind, apparently well within firing range. 

Ren didn’t answer right away, so Hux huffed and released one hand from around his waist, feeling for the blaster at his belt. To hell with it. He wasn’t about to let them go down without a bit of a fight. 

“I think I can pick off the first few. Hold the damn thing steady, Ren,” Hux ordered, fingers brushing against the grip of his weapon as he withdrew it from its holster. Few knew this, but he was a bit of a crack shot—at least in the firing range. He hadn’t much practice out in the field, but there was nothing to be done about that. He had to try, or else they might not make it out of here alive. 

“I can lose them,” Ren finally replied, sounding a bit exasperated. “Don’t try to shoot, you’ll only put yourself at risk.”

Hux scoffed and ignored him, keeping his blaster aloft and his eyes tracking the movements of the enemy speeders. Ren may want him to cling on like a helpless, mewling loth kit, but Hux refused to just keep his head down and let Ren alone get them to safety. He wasn’t pfaasking useless, for stars’ sake. 

But he _ was _ having a hard time getting a clear enough shot. More enemy munitions torched the vegetation around him, with some of the bolts whizzing a little too close for Hux’s comfort. If he didn’t act fast and return fire, it would only be a matter of time before one of those blasters hit their mark. 

All of a sudden Ren pulled back hard on the controls, sending the speeder surging upwards to surmount a mossy outcropping of rocks. The undercarriage scraped and bounced roughly against the slope, causing Hux to slide backwards in the seat until his rear nearly slipped off it. His heart jumped into his throat, throbbing so hard with adrenaline that he couldn’t even swallow down his spit. 

“I said steady! I can hit them!” Hux croaked, hand fisting even more tightly into the back of Ren’s robe. With the sudden boost in height, he could see the enemy speeders zipping along the ground below. Almost a clear enough shot. Hux just needed the speeder to stabilize for a moment, just to give him the perfect window of opportunity to take out at least one of their pursuers. He leaned a little out of his seat and took aim right at the head of the front runner, waiting, as their speeder sailed over the outcropping. 

“General, don’t be a fool!_ ” _Ren snarled loud enough to be heard well above the screeching whine of the speeder’s engine, his voice rough even beneath the distortion of the mask. “If you don’t hang on tighter, I won’t be blamed for losing yo—”

Something red-hot whizzed past Hux’s shoulder so closely it singed the fabric of his greatcoat, but he had no time to bemoan another injury to his uniform as the unmistakable sound of a blaster bolt hitting its target followed by a sickening _ crack _ cut across his ears. Hux screamed as liquid sparks from the impact splattered across his face and seared his skin, but again he had little freedom to react to the burns as suddenly the speeder lost control in its descent down the outcropping, veering off track towards the thicket of trees surrounding them instead. Hux’s stomach plummeted like a rock as the speeder shot towards the ground, the monitors on the control panel beeping wildly in distress. He lost his grip on his blaster as he dove forward, clutching tightly around Ren’s waist instead. Hux burrowed his face into the man’s back, hoping Ren would retake control of the speeder and continue on to safety, but he only slumped forward against the console, helmet smoking. 

“Ren—?” Hux cried out, hoping that might rouse him, but it was no use. Ren was completely unresponsive, arms dangling uselessly at his side. Without strong, skillful hands to guide it the speeder flew out of control and hit one thick tree sideways, before bouncing off and spinning towards the earth. Hux screamed again, burying his face into Ren’s cowl as they were thrown about. He clenched his thighs tightly around the seat, trying to keep both himself and Ren’s body in place, but to no avail. The speeder struck another tree with a horrific _ crunch_, ejecting them from their seats and sending them flying through the air.

The last thing Hux remembered before he slammed into the ground were his own screams of fright and Ren’s stark, fatal silence.

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully I'll have the second part up soon! In the mean time, let me know what you thought of this setup. 
> 
> Hit me up on [Tumblr](http://thethespacecoyote.tumblr.com) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/heir_of_breath7/).


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